Therru Stojčević
This enigmatic wanderer from far off lands (that struggles to keep a straight face when she tells people so) is a traveller that wants to know who you are, where you came from, and basically your entire life story. Actually hailing from a backwater village in the northern part of the continent, she came here looking for a story. Backstory Therru grew up on a farm with basically no prospects other than those pertaining to cows. Being the second daughter of a couple with two sons and three daughters, no-one really cared what she did with her time, as long as she helped out with the aforementioned cows. And so, when an old man going by the name of Otter settled down in the village and began telling stories every other day, her curiosity was piqued. Otter had been a travelling storyteller, wandering from town to town, paying for his accommodations with his tales. At the age of nearly eighty, he had decided to take his earnings and retire in peace. Therru and Otter soon became fast friends, with her coming around to the small cottage he was renting in the evenings to hear his stories in greater depth than he told to the rest of the village. As Otter aged, Therru helped out more around his home, doing all those little tasks that creaking bones cannot handle. In return, Otter taught her what he knew about storytelling, how to pace the tale, how to embellish it to be told time and time again. Eventually, Therru knew all his stories, and could tell them back so that even he was amused, and they began working together to entertain the village. Otter also taught her her letters and how to play the bodhran to accompany herself. However, Therru could never think of a story better than any of his. No matter how hard she though, no matter how much time she spent developing it, she was never satisfied with it. Otter would just laugh and tell her to have another go. Then, years after he had first arrived in Atuan, Otter had slowed down so much that he could no longer support himself, even with Therru doing what she could. Therru, a young woman now, convinced her parents to let her look after him full time, and moved in. The evening that she did, Otter told her a tale. This was one that she knew well, and could tell almost as well as he could, but there was something new. As he spoke of Roran, the warrior dwarf, a small figure appeared in front of him, and as he spoke of the fights against the orcs, the figure moved and swung. The next day, he began teaching her this magic. Therru learned quickly, but it was not long before Otter was bedridden. The people of the village, who would often leave meat and milk and bread, came to hear his stories in his cottage. Eventually, the stories stopped. Therru only moved from his bedside when she had to. She tried everything that he had taught her to heal him, but age is not something that can be stopped easily. Finally, they both knew that the day had come. Therru sat by the bed and watched her only true friend die. Otter moved his hand, and his voice sounded without his mouth moving. He told her that she was a fantastic person to have kept with him this whole time, and gave one last piece of advice on her story telling. He told her that the reason she could never make a story that was as good as his was that she was making them; his were all real. In his travels, he had heard the stories from the people in them, or saw them happen himself. Everything he had told had happened, even the fantastical tales of dragons and other planes and all the rest. The next day, Therru left the village. She waited long enough to pack her things and speak at the small funeral, then set out for the world. When her mother asked why she had to leave, Therru simply responded, "I want to have a story as good as any of Otter's, so I can show it off the next time I see him." In the Campaign Therru first was introduced in Chapter 1 after seeing Corin Ducaster and noticing the aura of plot relevance around him, which was confirmed when Ketzil Coatal just appeared next to him. This was about ten years after Otter died, and she had some experience under her belt. Therru is on this journey, not for any personal purpose, but to experience what may happen. She doesn't really care about anyone that much, unless they can tell her, or make her, a story. This can lead to a few problems when someone is deemed uninteresting, but anyone who seems to have a lot going on in their life will be fine. In a battle, Therru is next to useless. She can't hit hard, she can't absorb attacks, and she only really has a few support spells. Where she shines is outside of initiative. With a spell list built around "people person" spells, she can convince, deceive or pry into or out of almost any situation. She can be quite the smooth talker when needed, if she can restrain herself from simply demanding the other person's entire life story. Influence(s) * The Wandering Bard from ErraticErrata's A Practical Guide to Evil. * Therru, or Tehanu, from Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea.